Still mystified by that. "I just always pack xanthum gum" seems like a weird motto.

Right now he has this weird comfortable space where no one has any idea what he's going to do, and so supporters can convince themselves that he is literal about all the promises they like, and just blowing steam about all the stuff they don't like and secretly he means the opposite. This wave function collapses once…

Trump got the normal number of Republican votes (2004, 08, 12, 16, just over 60 million), so if he doesn't do too much you might be right.

He'll be impeached when they decide he's too dangerous to leave in place. At which point the emoluments clause alone will give them a bounty to work with, and they can just pick one thing. Alternatively, the Dems manage to pull 2006 again in 2018, take the House and Senate, and can take him down. If things have gotten…

I found the Quickfire far more amusing than I had any reason to.

It makes "simmer" a lower temperature.

In the past his sauces were often praised when he had some restraint, so I wasn't altogether surprised that was what he won for last week. (I was surprised that they did the sole winner thing on a two-person dish, which made no sense.)

Thank you! If you are cooking and serving in a field through the heat of the day in midsummer, mayo-based food is not the way to go.

But where's the "I enter the arena to face the dried beans of my past defeat" monologue?

Yes; I think the interesting contrasts of the first couple of eps have rolled downhill to "doing well in a prior season means you're likely to make it far going against newbs" as the unexciting conclusion.

I heard an interview with Bill Ayers a couple of days ago. When they got to the part about "Clinton won't have a honeymoon, because all the Bernie people will DEMAND Many Great Progressive Reforms Right Now" I laughed darkly, realizing it was an old interview. But then the host asked him about the "Trump is the real…

I'm all for leaving Melania alone, but damned if I don't want one of the Republican ladies who raged against the horrible unclassiness of Michelle Obama's sleeveless dresses to explain why It's OK When Republicans Do Nude Shoots in GQ.

One of those "pity it was cancelled after that epic first season" shows. (See also Ugly Betty, Heroes.)

I'll second Pushing Daisies. One of those shows that sounds bizarre when you try to summarize it, but works like gangbusters in practice.

Dollhouse, which really holds up well on rewatch. When you know where it's going (hmm, we never do get any backstory on that huggable character that turns out to be evil), and ideally have seen the original pilot (which gives a logical reason to give the dolls a variety of non-sex-slave assignments).

How did Brooke and Emily wind up on the same team after last week?

In fairness—because I don't like mayo, and because based on many trips to Alabama I am confident that a potato salad made with salsa verde would go over fine with the locals—the salsa verde was brown. It really didn't look appetizing. And they said it was mushy and tasted bad, part of a plate of sweet acid monotony.

Can we just trade Sam for Emily, then?

It's definitely traditional for a whole-hog roast to go straight through the night at low heat, and be eaten the next afternoon. I preferred this to "You have 45 minutes, barbecue something" which completely misses the definition of barbecue.

I don't think the upper classes of this country are noted for their swooning love for Attack of the Clones. Nor their aversion to extremely expensive Star Wars memorabilia, now that the nerds run things.